Vocal pulse detector

ABSTRACT

A SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING THE TIME AT WHICH A VOCAL PULSE OCCURS COMPRISING ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY INCLUDING DIFFERENTIATING CIRCUITS AND RECTIFIERS FOR PRODUCING A SINGLE OUTPUT PULSE AT AND ONLY AT THE TIME OF THE INPUT VOCAL PULSE CORRESPONDING TO A PARTICULAR PHONETIC SOUND.

i ten lnventors Stephen Moshier [50] Field of Search l79/l (SA), Arlington; 1 (VC) Dwight W. Batteau. deceased, late of Cambridge, Mew; Blanca l). Bntteau, References Cited executor, Cnmhridge, Moss. UNITED STATES PATENTS PP 370,691 2,975,367 3/l96l Adams ml. 322/114 Filed June 12, 1969 I Patented June 28, 1971 Primary Exammer-Kathleen H. Claffy Assignee the United States of America as represented Emmmer- Douglas Olms by the my the Navy Atlomeys- Edgar J. Brower and Roy Miller ABSTRACT: A speech recognition system for identifying the time at which a vocal pulse occurs comprising electronic cir- EE QE'KECTOR cuitry including differentiating circuits and rectifiers for mums rawmg producing a single output pulse at and only at the time of the [1.8. U 179/! input vocal pulse corresponding to a particular phonetic lint. Cl G10] 1/00 sound.

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MOMENT 0F VOCAL PULSE TIME W I/ M MM IN W i W DIFFERENCE EETWEEN PEAK HEIGHTS NFFERENTIATED TWICE fig ivoweL souuo "EEH I I I I u u RECTIFIED VOWEL SOUND i I I I I I l I I I 2 I I (3 J II I I I I I I 2 DIFFE RENTIATED (RECTIFIED VOWEL SOUND I I I I I I I I I I I I 272 I I I I RECTIFIED. (DIFFERENTIATED, RECTIFIEmE VOWEL souIw-"EEH") 2 d; at II II RECT. RECT VOWEL S ND dt. di

FIG. 3.

INVENTORS ROY MILLER ATTORNEY.

PATENTED JUHZB 1971 SHEET 2 [1F 3 qOmm VOCAL PULSE DETECTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One of the desirable qualities in a speech recognition system useful in speech research is that the system be able to identify the moment at which a vocal pulse occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises an electronic circuit for identifying the time at which such vocal pulses occur and com prises two differentiating circuits, rectifier, another differentiator, another rectifier and a last differentiator which provides a single output pulse whenever a vocal pulse occurs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a block diagram of the speech recognition system;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are the detailed schematic of the block diagram of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 illustrates waveforms at various points in FIGS. I, 2A and 28.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, a vocal pulse is coupled in at input I to the input of a preamplifier 11. The output of the preamplifier II is cou' pled to the input of a differentiator and amplifier I2 where a first differentiation is done on the pulse. The output of the differentiator and amplifier 12 is then coupled to the input of another differentiator and amplifier 13 where another differentiation is performed on the vocal pulse to provide the second derivative of the amplitude of the pulse.

The output of the second differentiator and amplifier I3 is rectified or clipped in rectifier I4 the output of which is coupled to another differentiator and amplifier 115 where another differentiation is performed on the vocal pulse.

The output of the third differentiator and amplifier I5 is coupled to another amplifier and rectifier 16 where another clipping takes place and the output of the rectifier is coupled to the input'of the final differentiator and amplifier 17 to provide an output therefrom comprising a single voltage spike corresponding to the moment of the input voltage pulse.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are the detailed schematic corresponding to the block diagram of FIG. I.

The waveforms of FIG. 3 illustrate the result of various actions performed on the input vocal pulse. For instance, FIG. 3 IN illustrates the vowel sound EEH which is a sinusoidal waveform which varies with time.

The rate of change of amplitude is maximum at the time of the vocal pulse, as is the rate of the rate of change, or second derivative of the amplitude. Therefore, the first step in identifying the time of the vocal pulse requires differentiating the signal twice. This produces a signal corresponding to FIG. 3A.

It should be noted that the peak amplitude of the resultant signal may occur at the second or third maximum, but that the largest difference between peaks occurs at the first maximum following the moment of the vocal pulse. Thus, a measurement of differences in peaks will show a maximum at the time of the vocal pulse initiation. In order to derive this difference in peaks the signal is then rectified in rectifier 14. The time constant of an RC filter in the rectifier 114i is chosen properly so that the waveform of FIG. 38 results.

If the output signal from rectifier I4 is now differentiated, the differences in peak height are obtained and results in the waveform of FIG. 3C.

If the output of the differentiator and amplifier 15 is again rectified or clipped in rectifier and amplifier 16 and a proper choice of RC time constant in the filter made, the voltage at the capacitor in the RC filter will always be greater than the height of the small pulses of FIG. 3C, so that only the vocal pulse charges the capacitor. The resulting waveform is illustrated in FIG. 3D.

When the waveform of FIG. 3D is again differentiated a pulse is obtained at and only at the moment of the vocal pulse as shown in FIG. 3E.

By utilizing this clrcuitry and process inherent therein, the

vocal pulse is detected and isolated for any desired use.

We claim:

I. A speech recognition system comprising:

input means adapted to receive an input voice signal in the form of an electrical waveform;

differentiating means for deriving the maximum rate of change of the input voice signal electrically connected to said input means;

clipping means electrically connected to said differentiating means for removing the portion of said electrical waveform remaining after differentiation below a datum value;

other differentiating means electrically connected to said clipping means for differentiating the output of said clipping means;

other clipping means electrically connected to said other differentiating means for removing portions of the output from said other differentiating means below another datum value;and

final differentiating means electrically connected to said other clipping means for producing an output pulse only at the moment of the vocal pulse embedded in said input voice signal.

2. A speech recognition system as set forth in claim I wherein:

the first differentiating means for deriving the maximum rate of change comprises two differentiators for taking the second derivative of the amplitude of the waveform. 

